Advertising for disease research tends to show the plight of victims and the heroic efforts of researchers to emphasise need. Ogilvy Barcelona’s campaign for Fundación Luzón shows none of these, but its message of need is loud and clear. The awareness campaign, Nothing causes ALS, highlights the scientific ignorance about the origin of the disease to emphasise the urgent need to boost research. Without research, there are no answers.

The campaign video is graphic. The film shows everything that does not cause ALS in order to highlight how much we still ignore about this disease. It’s a rare campaign for a rare disease that needs not to be overlooked.

We know that sugar causes diabetes, that smoking causes cancer or that a sedentary lifestyle increases cardiovascular risk. But we know very little about ALS, especially the most common type, which accounts for 90% of cases: sporadic ALS. Although several studies have been carried out, there is currently no diagnosis and, as long as there is no research to disprove it, all we can say is that nothing causes ALS.

“As ALS is considered a rare disease, there are not many resources to determine what causes the disease, find a diagnostic test and a treatment. Hence our mission as a foundation is to promote research and draw attention to this reality through campaigns like ‘Nothing causes ALS’ that we can launch thanks to the collaboration of a great agency like Ogilvy,” stated Sonia Sánchez de Bernardo, director of Fundación Luzón.

Enrique Almodóvar, creative director of Ogilvy in Barcelona, added, “When you know the origin of a disease or the risk factors, you can avoid them. The problem with ALS is that you don’t know anything, so you can’t avoid bad habits that can favor the disease. What we want to highlight with this campaign is that a healthy person has the same chances of developing ALS as an unhealthy person”.

The hero film is running across digital media supported in OOH (street furniture, static and digital billboards) in Spain, making the message visible in a forceful way on public roads.

Credits:
Creative Agency: Ogilvy
Chief Creative Officer:  Roberto Fara 
Executive Creative Directors: Noelia Fernández, Tomas O’Gorman  
Creative Director: Enrique Almodóvar
Art Directors: Gabriela González
Copywriters: Ylenia Esquerdo, Mar Rodríguez 
Account Director: Alba Garlito  
Account Executives: Giulia Vischi 
Content: Alba Cortiella, Luisana Luporsi
Production: Lucas Rubio, Jordi Roca 
Communications: Christian Martinez, Laura Cuenca 

Client: Fundación Luzón 
Client Team: Sonia Sánchez de Bernardo, Julia Diez